Talentsoft Closes €25m Investment Round Led By Goldman Sachs

Leader in cloud-based talent-management software strengthens its global ambitions, as well as product innovation and talent acquisition

Paris, France – October 27th, 2015: Talentsoft, a global, privately held leader for cloud-based Talent Management solutions, today announced that it has completed a funding round of 25 million EUR. The round is led exclusively by Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division.

This new funding round will further support Talentsoft’s mission of being the leader for meeting companies’ talent management needs in the digital transformation. This critical change affects all industries and challenges employers to continually assess the competencies of their workforce, enhance re-training programmes and effectively manage their resources. With its integrated suite of talent management applications, Talentsoft helps organizations of all sizes to make the transition to a digital economy.

The investment will play an important role in the execution of Talentsoft’s strategic growth plan and is intended to support:

International Growth – in 2016, Talentsoft will expand its local presence, including the United States and Singapore, and offer 24-7 local customer support across Europe, North America and Asia. This investment will further Talentsoft’s objective to triple its revenue to over 100m USD by the end of 2018.

Product Innovation – Talentsoft will continue to strengthen its product innovation team, which currently employs more than 100 developers, and make it the largest European R&D centre dedicated to a cloud-based human resources solution. Talentsoft will also focus on driving global adoption of its leading social sourcing application “Hello Talent,” rolling out applications to help employees take charge of their career and training opportunities, and strengthening its unique human resources Analytics solution.

Recruitment – Talentsoft plans to recruit 120 new employees in 2016 and to increase their employee base to more than 500 employees by the end of 2018.

“This new funding round will accelerate the international expansion of Talentsoft and will strengthen our position as the European leader of cloud-based talent-management software,” said Jean Stéphane Arcis, CEO of Talentsoft. “We are extremely proud to welcome Goldman Sachs as our newest investor and we highly appreciate their confidence in our vision, mission and products. Besides their financial expertise, we will also benefit from Goldman Sachs’ ability in building global strategic partnerships and their deep knowledge of key geographies and end markets.”

David Reis, Executive Director and Head of Technology at Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division in Europe, said: “Talentsoft has consistently outgrown the market thanks to constant innovation and outstanding execution capabilities. We are truly excited to partner with a world class management team to support the next step of the company’s domestic and international development.”

"This capital injection enables Talentsoft to gain scale geographically, to strengthen its field organization, to accelerate R&D to broaden its current solution scope, and reinforce it as European alternative," said Bo Lykkegaard, Associated Vice President at IDC. "IDC forecasts high future growth in the market for talent management applications as organizations in Europe and elsewhere are adopting digital business models and new work practices. Furthermore, we see customer demand changing from niche talent applications to broader, SaaS-based talent and human capital management suites."

Goldman Sachs is the only investor to participate in this funding round. Goldman Sachs now joins Seventure Partners, Bpifrance (via its Ambition Numérique fund), Alto Invest, and Highland Capital Partners Europe as fellow investors in Talentsoft. Headquartered in Paris, France, Talentsoft has seen consistent success and strong growth since launching in 2007. Company milestones include:

5 million users across 22 languages

60% of users come from outside in France, spread throughout 100 different countries

56% company growth in 2014

29 million Euros planned revenue in 2015

Client base of 800 companies

About Talentsoft

Created in 2007 by three French entrepreneurs, Talentsoft is a global leader in talent management and human resources software. With more than 5 million users in 100 countries, Talentsoft is shaping the future of human resources through highly personalized cloud-based solutions. The company’s software application suite provides an end-to-end Talent Management solution, ranging from recruiting to learning, and from compensation to performance management. Talentsoft targets both mid-market and large-enterprise customers and has successfully deployed its solution in global companies with over 200,000 employees, proving its scalability. The company has been named a “Visionary” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for three consecutive years and has also been recognised consistently in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA rankings.

About Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division

Since 1986, the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs has raised over $145 billion of capital in equity, credit and real estate funds to invest in a variety of geographies, industries and transaction types. With Merchant Banking representatives in seven countries around the world, Goldman Sachs is one of the largest managers of private capital globally, offering deep expertise and long-standing relationships with companies, investors, entrepreneurs and financial intermediaries. Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.